In the automotive industry paint which does not adhere to the automobile must be removed from the paint spray booth. Generally, this overspray is collected in a waste water system where it is detackified. After detackification, the paint solids are separated from the waste water, filtered and dewatered. The filtered solids are then removed to landfill sites for disposal.
A good detackification program should provide a good sludge dewatering capability. Sludge landfill disposal regulations vary from state-to-state, however, a sludge containing high solids and minimum solids is essential for most landfill sites.
Historically, a clay/amine detackifier has been used to detackify the paint and create a floc. Alternatively, clay/polymer detackifiers/flocculants have been utilized.
These paint detackifier/flocculants are present in the water that collects the paint overspray. When the floc has formed, a sludge is produced which must be removed from the waste water. This sludge is used as landfill. To minimize transporation cost and landfill volume, it is highly desirable to dewater the sludge to create as high a solids content as possible.
We have utilized an acrylamide/dimethylamino ethylmethacrylate methylsulfate quat (i.e. Am/DMAEM MSQ) polymer composition as the waste water conditioner which serves as a dewatering aid. Typically, this dewatering aid has had an RSV between 7 and 10 and is present in concentrations as low as 0.1 ppm to 50 ppm actives.
Generally, this polymer has worked well because it has a high cationic charge being about 31% cationic in nature. This high cationic charge has reacted with the overall negative charge of the clay/amine and/or the clay/polymer flocculants systems utilized in the past.